BY PAM LOBLEY

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

NOW THAT'S FUNNY

Boldy standing up to the pro-lunatic lobby, Congress spent your tax dollars debating and then resolving to remove the word “lunatic” from all appearances in the federal law. This is in keeping with the goal of removing outdated or demeaning terms in the U.S. Code.

As reported on CBS News, Senator Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota), one of the sponsors of the bill, said "Federal law should reflect the 21st century understanding of mental illness and disease,” and that the word did not belong in federal law. The word had been used in a banking regulation that allowed banks to act as a “committee of estates of lunatics” on guardianship issues.

Gee. As long as they’re looking at banking regulations … are there any other reforms they could tackle? Perhaps they’d like to get rid of “collateralized debt obligation.” I find that term offensive.

The measure passed 398-1. Don’t let that vote count fool you, though. This was a hard fought deal, and America has been trembling on the edge of the lunatic cliff for months. Democrats wanted to strike the word, but Republicans felt that if we were going to strike “lunatics”, then we should also cut “idiot”, “dingbat” and “moron.” Democrats disagreed, saying such a measure went too far and might offend some people. They subsequently changed their position and agreed to the cuts, if they could raise taxes on morons. Republicans said they refused to raise taxes on anyone, including morons. John Boehner finally got his caucus to agree though, by cutting a deal. The new terms are that “lunatic” is stricken from the law, and Congress gets a five percent raise. The bill passed in ten minutes.

When called a bunch of wasteful, bickering windbags, one member promptly introduced a bill to remove the word “windbags” from the U.S. Code as well.